Trade talks on September, China hopes to achieve an agreement with U.S

China and the United States are discussing the next round of face-to-face talks scheduled in September, but hopes for progress hinge on whether Washington can create favorable conditions, China’strade ministry said Thursday.

In the latest escalation of trade war headlines between the world’s two largest economies, the US President Donald Trump last Friday prepared an additional 5% duty on about $ 550 billion in targeted Chinese goods.

The move came hours after China unveiled US $ 75 billion revenge tariffs on US goods.

China hopes the United States can cancel planned additional tariffs to avoid an escalation in the trade war, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters Thursday.

“The most important thing at the moment is to create the conditions necessary for both sides to continue negotiations,” he said during a weekly conference, adding that China was presenting “solemn representation” with the United States.

For two years, the Trump administration has sought to pressure China to eliminate what it calls unfair trade practices and make sweeping changes to its intellectual property protection policies, forced technology transfers to Chinese firms, industrial subsidies and access to market.

But China has consistently denied such allegations, vowing to fight back in nature and criticizing US measures as protectionist.

Gao reiterated that China had “abundant” retaliation measures if Washington eventually moved to impose the planned tariffs, but was willing to settle the matter calmly.

On Monday, Trump envisioned a trade deal with China, saying he believed he was sincere about wanting to reach a deal, citing what he called growing economic pressure on Beijing and job losses there.

Trump cited comments by Deputy Prime Minister Liu He, who has led talks with Washington, as a positive sign that China was ready to resolve the dispute through “smooth” negotiations.

He reiterated his assertion that Chinese officials had contacted US trade counterparts overnight, offering to resume negotiations, a statement China refused to confirm.

GAO also declined to provide any details when asked if there was a call this week between Beijing and Washington.

“As far as I know, both trading teams have maintained effective communication,” he said.

In July 2018, the U.S.-China trade dispute increased tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other’s goods and threatens to engulf all trade between countries, jeopardizing the growth of the globe.

“Hopefully, the United States will show sincerity and concrete action,” Gao said./Investing.com